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UCE Birmingham
Established	1992
Type	Public
Chancellor	The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Mike Sharpe
Vice-Chancellor	David Tidmarsh
Students	25,010 [1]
Location	Birmingham, United Kingdom
Website	http://www.uce.ac.uk

UCE Birmingham (the University of Central England) is a university in the city of Birmingham, England.

The main UCE Birmingham campus is located in Perry Barr, Birmingham. UCE also incorporates Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD), the largest faculty of art, design and media education in the United Kingdom, located at Gosta Green, and the Westbourne campus in Edgbaston, home to both UCE's NHS-supported healthcare training faculty and a moderate amount of student accommodation. The UCE school of English is home to The National Academy of Writing.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Birmingham Polytechnic 1.2 Incorporation 1.3 University status 1.4 Merger proposals 2 Faculties 3 Research 4 Mapplethorpe controversy 5 Notable alumni 6 Notable staff 7 References 8 External links

Before it became a university, by statute on March 6, 1992, it was City of Birmingham Polytechnic, run by Birmingham City Council. Although Birmingham had had a polytechnic from 1843 to 1853, this one was created in 1971 from five colleges:

• Birmingham College of Art (originally the Birmingham Government School of Design, founded in October 1843)
• Birmingham School of Music (developed as a department of the Birmingham and Midland Institute in around 1859)
• Birmingham College of Commerce (originally a branch school of the Birmingham Central Technical College, which went on to become Aston University)
• South Birmingham Technical College (opened in 1961)
• North Birmingham Technical College (formerly Aston Technical College).

In 1975, three further colleges were absorbed:

• Anstey College of Physical Education (founded as a private college for women in 1897)
• Bordesley College of Education (founded a local education authority (LEA) Day Training College for women teachers in 1963).
• City of Birmingham College of Education (founded as an LEA Emergency Teacher Training College in 1948).

In 1988, Bournville College of Art was also added. The extensive archives, including over 10,000 artworks, from these earlier incarnations are housed at UCE's Margaret Street campus.

On April 1, 1989, the Education Reform Act made this, and all, polytechnics independent corporations with charitable status.

The Further and Higher Education Act 1992 allowed all polytechnics to adopt the title of 'university'. The name University of Central England in Birmingham was approved by the Privy Council on the 16 June 1992.

In 1995, yet another two colleges were absorbed:

• Birmingham and Solihull College of Nursing and Midwifery
• West Midlands School of Radiography

In August 2005 the university rebranded itself as UCE Birmingham, but this decision was reversed in March 2007 and the full title 'University of Central England' was resurrected.

In November 2003, the UCE asked neighbouring Aston University to consider a merger. This was rejected, as was a separate proposal to merge with the University of Birmingham.

UCE now has seven faculties:

• UCE Birmingham Conservatoire
• Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD)
• Built Environment - closed in 2005. Course provision moved to BIAD and LHDS
• UCE Business School
• Computing - closed in 2005. Computing courses have moved to the Business School
• Education
• Faculty of Health
• Law, Humanities, Development and Society (LHDS) as from 2005.
• Technology Innovation Centre (TIC)

UCE Birmingham is primarily a teaching institution. However, a notable piece of research into the phenomena of contract cheating was publicised by researchers at UCE Birmingham.

In 1998, the UCE was involved in a controversy over the inclusion of books by Robert Mapplethorpe in its library. ^[2]

Graduates of UCE Birmingham and its former entities include:

• Frank Skinner, comedian (1985)
• News reader Ian Abrahams (1990)^{[citation needed]}
• Novelist Jim Crace
• German Entrepeneur Adam Wilcox (2005)
• Architect Stephen Timmins (2004)
• Artist Rob Pepper

Current and former staff of UCE Birmingham and its former entities include:

• Chris Baines

1. ^ Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2005/06. Higher Education Statistics Agency online statistics. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
2. ^ UCE pages on the Mapplethorpe controversy

• UCE Birmingham
• Union website
• Alumni Association
• Technology Innovation Centre (TIC)
• UCE Conservatoire
• BIAD website
• Business School (including Computing)
• Faculty of Health
• Faculty of Law, Humanities, Development and Society
• The National Academy of Writing